The next Starship flight will test much more than hardware

Summary

SpaceX is gearing up to launch its massive Starship rocket from South Texas, a test that gives the company a chance to reverse a brutal few months of mishaps on the ground and in the air. The last Starship test flight was nearly three months ago, and it notched a milestone: the first reuse of a Super Heavy booster. But that mission ended with the upper stage, also called Starship, or Ship, breaking apart on reentry and the booster exploding over the Gulf during the landing burn phase of flight. A few weeks later, the Ship slated for Flight 10 blew up on the ground during a static-fire campaign, destroying a test stand and forcing SpaceX to swap in a new upper stage for this next mission. The Federal Aviation Administration has since closed its mishap investigations into Flight 9, clearing the way for this next attempt. These back-to-back losses have raised the stakes and turned this next flight into its own kind of test: Can SpaceX integrate lessons learned and notch some new wins? The company’s approach is famously known as ‘build-fly-fix-repeat,’ and each test flight yields a trove of valuable data. But the continued loss of “Ship” during flight has raised questions as to when the megarocket will be ready to carry payloads for commercial customers and NASA. Despite the setbacks, SpaceX has made remarkable progress on the stainless-steel Starship since the first flight in April 2023. Most recently, the company made history in May when it reflew a booster for the first time, proving that rapid reuse is possible. But returning the upper stage – let alone landing it for reuse, as is the ultimate goal – still seems to be a ways off. The financial stakes have become increasingly public. In a January filing with Texas regulators, SpaceX said it has already poured “more than 7.5 billion” into Starbase and the Starship program. More recently, SpaceX told Florida’s governor that it plans to spend another $1.8 billion to stand up Starship pads at Kennedy Space Center and Cap...